Eastern University Baseball started their Freedom Conference schedule with perhaps the toughest road date on the schedule. After a three hour bus ride to Purchase, the Eastern bats struggled to generate runs. The Eagles kept things close early, but Manhattanville scored a pair of runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to pull away to a 9-2 win.

Dan Garcia led the Eastern offense with three hits and his first home run of the year. Manhattanville scored a single run in the first, a pair in the second, and another run in the third against starter Nick Moeltner. The freshman right-hander kept the Valiants from putting together a big inning, but the Eagles trailed 4-0 going into the top of the fourth. 

Garcia hit a one out homer and Mike McNulty just missed another homer and settled for a double as his shot to center hit the fence, but the Eagles were unable to bring him home and had to settle for just the one run.

Moeltner, after pitching out of jams for the first three innings, then found his rhythm and faced just nine batters through the middle three innings. Coach Midkiff said of Moeltner's effort, "Nick did a good job escaping trouble in the first couple innings, and we did not help him in the field as much as we have been early on. He settled in kept us within a couple big hits until the seventh."

Two Eastern batters reached in the fifth, but the big hit did not come and the score remained 4-1. The Eagles cut the deficit to 4-2 in the sixth on a Matt Horican fielder's choice, but once again, Manhattanville starter Steven Arroyo-Falcon escaped a jam and the game remained at 4-2.

Moeltner faced just three batters in the sixth, but got into trouble in the seventh.The Valiants put runners on a single and a walk, and they both advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. With just one out, the Eagles brought the infield in, and a ground ball single put Manhattanville up 6-2.

Zach Clouser came on to get the last two outs, but the Eastern offense was unable to to solve Arroyo-Falcon. 

The two teams meet again tomorrow in St. Davids for a doubleheader.